MooPig Almost a Story Department :: "Cliven Bundy"

Whatever Happened with that Cliven Bundy Stuff?
Mixed martial articles by Pat Darnell  |  June 8, 2014  |   Bryan TX

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Just recently, as recent as April 5th, 2014, there was a splash in the media of what had the makings of a catastrophic, Waco-like, clash of gun-toting Joe-Q-Public with the USA Military. Eh?

Which side were you on?

We stood by the gate like bovine usually do in these cases, and watched to see if the hay truck arrived. No hay today.

While the "media" *[television, newspapers, online pundits, overseas pundits, and us]* tried to make it a contest with a promise of a sweepstakes in the end, well it petered out. The middle-men "media" lost control of their interests. So will other stories in the future peter out because the Internet is eliminating the middle-men; is this a good thing?

Well, we are standing by the gate still looking at it from out here in our field. Is that government grass really greener?

"...On Saturday, April 5, the Bureau of Land Management began confiscating the cattle Cliven Bundy had grazing on federal land. The BLM did so under authority given by a Nevada federal district court judge, and it planned to auction off the cattle later on. To carry out the operation, the BLM brought in armed federal agents and private contractors, and closed down much of the federal land in the area, restricting entry:

The BLM closed down land so it could round up Bundy's cattle ... Over a hundred cattle were confiscated that first weekend, and Bundy's son Dave was arrested for refusing to leave the temporarily closed federal lands. So Sunday night, Bundy posted a message on the Bundy Ranch website: 'They have my cattle and now they have one of my boys. Range War begins tomorrow' (LINK)..."

Government BLM, Bureau of Land Management, moved in to remove Bundy's livestock because: "... Finally, in 2013, a Nevada district court judge permanently banned Bundy's cattle from grazing there, and authorized the government to confiscate the cattle. That court decision is what led to last week's standoff (LINK)..."

"... Finally, on Saturday, April 12, the BLM caved, calling off the operation out of "grave concern about the safety of employees and members of the public," according to a statement. (LINK)..."

As an agency, the BLM is tasked with considering multiple different interests, many of which conflict with each other. "They are supposed to pay attention to commodity production, grazing, recreation, ecological functioning, endangered species habitats, and also revenue," McCarthy [professor of geography at Clark University] says.

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Armed Feds Prepare For Showdown With Nevada Cattle Rancher |: "A Ruby Ridge-style standoff is brewing in Nevada, where dozens of armed federal agents are closing in on cattle rancher Cliven Bundy over claims that Bundy has allowed his cows to graze illegally on government land, endangering a protected species of tortoise."
'via Blog this'

"... This phony event has brought out the worst of the gun-waving far right, and the national politicians who are barely one degree of separation from them. Hundreds of heavily armed, camouflaged supporters of the scofflaw turned out Saturday in Nevada, training their rifles on public employees who were trying to do their job. The outsiders looked like snipers ready to shoot the police. If you changed that picture to Black Panthers surrounding a lawful eviction in the inner city, do you think right-wing media would be there cheering the outlaws? (Egan, Timothy. April 18, 2014. LINK) ..."

"...I don’t suppose Egan realizes that Ronald Reagan reacted to armed Black Panthers [legally] entering the State House by enacting California’s most draconian [up to that point] gun control law. If that open carry event was intentionally inflammatory – and it was – Egan’s writing is worse. Never mind the fact that the BLM had snipers trained on the demonstrators. Egan’s claim that the demonstrators “looked like snipers ready to shoot the police” is libel wrapped in a metaphor (Robert Farago. April 18, 2014. LINK)..."

As has become the way of News, we have plenty of opinion, enough to divide readers into opposing sides like a sporting event. How the motley crew of civilians is compared to the Black Panthers we will never know.

Here's a comment from Patrick [not me] on Eagan's Op page:

"...Patrick San Francisco, CA 18 April 2014
I have no sympathy for this squatter. Those 'concerned citizens' are just what Senator Reid called them, "domestic terrorists." They have no right to impose their very questionable beliefs on the rest of our society. The right wing media should be held accountable for their actions. Free speech doesn't include inciting or encouraging violence. (LINK)..."

Then television did their "in depth" investigation and interviewed Cliven Bundy. See the stuff Bundy spewed HERE. "...[Then] On Thursday, conservatives lined up to condemn Cliven Bundy. Senator Rand Paul called his remarks "offensive." Senator Dean Heller's office called them "appalling." Nevada Assemblywoman Michele Fiore, who'd emerged as one of Bundy's most committed defenders, said, "I strongly disagree with Cliven Bundy's comments about slavery." [LINK]..."

CONCLUSION
For the love of God, WTF?

Someday, someone will quantify how much this kind of rabid yellow journalism has cost in pain, discord, suffering, and dollars. Until that day MooPig Enterprises will continue to post its own form of secondary middle-man pig-cloistered-in-the-cow research free of charge.


__________________________Reference
http://www.dcclothesline.com/2014/04/07/armed-feds-prepare-showdown-nevada-cattle-rancher/
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/04/18/opinion/egan-deadbeat-on-the-range.html?emc=edit_th_20140418&nl=todaysheadlines&nlid=67256620&_r=0#permid=11595457
http://www.vox.com/2014/4/25/5651432/cliven-bundy-spanish-people
http://www.vox.com/cards/nevada-rancher-cliven-bundy-explained/whats-the-background-of-the-dispute-between-bundy-and-the-government
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/04/24/us/politics/rancher-proudly-breaks-the-law-becoming-a-hero-in-the-west.html?_r=0
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bundy_standoff